Stefan J. Erkeland, PhD

Associate Professor
Department of Immunology
Small Non-coding RNA and Leukemia (NRL) group

s.erkeland@erasmusmc.nl

Small Non-coding RNA and Leukemia (NRL) group

Biography

I received my doctorate in 2005 from Erasmus University Rotterdam for work on the identification, function, and clinical relevance of mouse myeloid leukemia genes. As a postdoctoral researcher supported by a KWF fellowship, I trained in the laboratory of Nobel Prize laureate Prof. Phillip Sharp (Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, USA), where I investigated the role of microRNAs (miRNAs) in leukemia. Over the past years, I have continued research in this field as an independent investigator, focusing on small non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs) in the context of leukemia, cellular stress, and oncogenic transformation.

I investigated the functions of miRNAs in leukemia and oncogene-driven transcriptional silencing of tumor-suppressive miRNAs and explored both canonical and non-canonical miRNA activities in diverse cell models, including immune cells, tumor cell lines, patient-derived xenografts, and primary tumor cells, both in vitro and in vivo. These projects were mainly funded by KWF, NWO and Worldwide Cancer Research. As part of an H2020 European network, I have also investigated the role of miRNAs in inflammatory diseases.

In ongoing projects, I collaborate with Dr. Peter van Veelen (LUMC, Leiden, The Netherlands), Dr. Meritxell Alberich-Jorda (Laboratory of Haemato-oncology, Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic) and Prof. Peter Katsikis (Immunology Department, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands). Together with Prof. Peter Katsikis, I am developing antiviral screening models to restore RNAi-mediated antiviral defense in lung cells, supported by the Erasmus MC Breakthrough Fund. In parallel, in collaboration with Dr. Peter van Veelen, I am investigating the nuclear miRNAs with an NWO-M2-funded research program. Together with Dr. Alberich-Jorda, we explore novel strategies of AML targeting in vivo.

In close collaboration with Prof. Dr. Peter Katsikis, Dr. Yvonne Mueller and Harbour Biomed, and together with investigators and clinicians at Erasmus MC and partner institutions, I have launched a translational research program focused on antibody-mediated depletion of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and leukemia-initiating cells (LICs). This innovative strategy aims to replace conventional toxic bone marrow conditioning regimens, with particular benefit for physically vulnerable patients and individuals with genetic diseases. Effective implementation of these antibodies has the potential to improve outcomes across a broad benign and malignant patient population while substantially reducing healthcare costs. We have established strong collaborations for these preclinical studies, including with Harbour Biomed for antibody optimization; the Hematology Department, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; patient organizations Stichting voor Afweerstoornissen (SAS) and Stichting Hematon; the Princess Máxima Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands and the Biomedical Primate Research Centre, Rijswijk, The Netherlands. This consortium between Harbour Biomed and Erasmus MC is supported by grants from Health~Holland, NWO, and KWF (including KWF-EXPL, KWF-PPP and KWF-Boost), which fund new product development and exploratory research. I serve as the project leader for this initiative.

For overview awards and research funding go to ORCID Erkeland: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1019-7957

Group Members

  • Stefan Erkeland, Research group leader, Associate Professor (HD)
  • Milad Rasouli (PhD, Postdoctoral researcher)
  • Gunja Mishra (PhD, Postdoctoral researcher)
  • Srinaath Narasimhan (MSc, PhD candidate)
  • Marie Dalem (MSc, PhD candidate)
  • Antoinette van Hoven-Beijen (BSc, Senior Research technician)
  • Iris van Zuijen (MSc, Research technician)

Alumni

  • Giada Dal Collo (Postdoctoral researcher)
  • Martijn Verbeek (MSc, PhD candidate)
    PhD thesis: “Molecular and cellular insights into B-cell precursor acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia”
  • Christiaan Stavast (MSc, PhD candidate)
    PhD thesis: “The dysregulation of Micrornas in Leukemia”
  • Annemarieke Bos (BSc, Research technician)
  • Zara-Li van der Sande (Bsc, Research technician)
  • Arman Ozcelik (Bsc, Research technician
  • Yvette Caljouw (Research Assistant)
  • Hans de Looper (Bsc, Research technician)
  • Roos Klop (Bsc, Research technician)
  • Mohsen Ghanbari (Msc, PhD candidate)
    PhD thesis: “The Role of MicroRNAs in Age-Related Disorders”
  • Mir Farshid Alemdehy (Msc, PhD candidate)
    PhD thesis: “MicroRNAs in normal and malignant myelopoiesis”
  • Nicole van Boxtel (Bsc, Research technician)
  • Iris van den Berge (Bsc, Research technician)

BSc Students

  • Sarah Elmorabit
  • Roald Bijl
  • Steven Koetzier
  • Roos Klop
  • Manon Gloudemans
  • Tamara Buurman
  • Noud Verstappen
  • Stijn van den Broek
  • Rayman Tjokrodirijo
  • Annemarieke Bos
  • Nette de Bruijn

MSc Students

  • Anne van Schoonhoven
  • Fabiënne van Opstal
  • Christiaan Stavast
  • Laura Sopeña Garcia
  • Karen Vermeulen
  • Esra Arslan
  • Srinaath Narasimhan
  • Bernard Stikker
  • Trui van Gulck
  • Mylene de Koning

ImmunAid (miRNA research)

  • Tessa Alofs (Bsc, Technician)
  • Tamara van Wees (Bsc, Technician)
  • Dwin Grashof (Bsc, Bio-informatician)
  • Iris van Zuijen (MSc, Research technician)
  • Renske den Dekker (MSc, Research technician)

We are always looking for new talents. Please contact us when you are searching for an internship (MSc. or BSc.) or a job position in an exciting field of research.

Selected publications

(See for all publications Erkeland S in PubMed)

  1. A multifaceted interplay between hemophagocytosis, IL-18 and type I IFN distinguishes Still disease from other autoinflammatory diseases.

Mueller YM, Girard C, van de Werken HJG, Erkeland SJ, Grashof DGB, Vaillant L, den Dekker RJH, van Zuijen I, Veenbergen S, Coffin F, Bindels E, Jamilloux Y, Laskari K; ImmunAID consortium; Soumelis V, Fautrel B, Gabay C, Katsikis PD.Arthritis Rheumatol. 2026 Feb 23. doi: 10.1002/art.70102. Online ahead of print. PMID: 41728940

  1. The impact of scaRNA12 deregulation on p53-mediated cellular stress response in B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

Martijn W C Verbeek, Mathijs A Sanders, Dwin G B Grashof, Remco M Hoogenboezem, Iris van Zuijen, Annemarieke Bos, Trui van Gulck, Rosan Olsman, Rishov Mukhopadhyay, Eric M J Bindels, Peter J M Valk, Harmen J G van de Werken, Vincent H J van der Velden, Stefan J Erkeland. Br J Haematol. 2026 Jan 19: PMID: 41550039

  1. Distinct natural killer cell signature in still’s disease: Insights from a multinational immunome project consortium for autoinflammatory disorders.

Amber De Visscher, Jarne Beliën, Bert Malengier-Devlies, Eline Bernaerts, Leana De Vuyst, Jessica Filtjens, Kourosh Ahmadzadeh, Tania Mitera, Nele Berghmans, Katerina Laskari, Yvan Jamilloux, Paul Regnier, David Saadoun, Charlotte Girard-Guyonvarc’h, Cem Gabay, Mieke Gouwy, Paul Proost, Stephanie Humblet-Baron, Yvonne M. Mueller, Stefan J. Erkland, Harmen J. G. van de Werken, Dwin G. B. Grashof, Peter D. Katsikis, Immunome Project Consortium, for Autoinflammatory Disorders (ImmunAID), Carine Wouters, Carine Wouters MD, Patrick Matthys. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2025 Dec 9: PMID: 41363108

  1. Partners in Silencing: Decoding the Mammalian Argonaute Interactome.

Srinaath Narasimhan and Stefan J. Erkeland. Noncoding RNA 2025 Aug 19: PMID: 40863728

  1. Immunotherapy for rapid bone marrow conditioning and leukemia depletion that allows efficient hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Giada Dal Collo, Srdjan Grusanovic, Milad Rasouli, Antoinette van Hoven-Beijen, Yvonne M Mueller, Zara-Li van der Sande, Martin van Hagen, Jan J Cornelissen, Yun He, Yuandong Wang, Emma De Pater, Vincent H J van der Velden, Marc H G P Raaijmakers, Meritxell Alberich-Jorda, Jiuqiao Zhao, Peter D Katsikis, Stefan J Erkeland. J Immunother Cancer 2025 Jun 27: PMID: 40579234

  1. Elevated serum levels of interleukin-18 discriminate Still’s disease from other autoinflammatory conditions: results from the European ImmunAID cohort.

Charlotte Girard-Guyonvarc’h, Emiliana Rodriguez, Yvonne M Mueller, Assunta Caruso, Peter D Katsikis, Cem Gabay; ImmunAID consortium. RMD Open. 2025 May 7: PMID: 40341183

  1. A novel TOX-nanoluciferase reporter mouse for exploring modulators of T cell exhaustion.

Ling Li, Yvonne M Mueller, Kou Hioki, Renske J H den Dekker, Inge Brouwers-Haspels, Laura Mezzanotte, Alex Maas, Stefan Erkeland, Peter D Katsikis. J Immunol. 2025 Jun 1: PMID: 40119750

  1. A genome-wide scan of non-coding RNAs and enhancers for refractive error and myopia.

Milly S Tedja, Joanna Swierkowska-Janc, Clair A Enthoven, Magda A Meester-Smoor, Pirro G Hysi, Janine F Felix, Cameron S Cowan; CREAM Consortium; Timothy J Cherry, Peter J van der Spek, Mohsen Ghanbari, Stefan J Erkeland, Tahsin Stefan Barakat, Caroline C W Klaver, Virginie J M Verhoeven. Hum Genet. 2025 Jan: PMID: 39774722

  1. Computational analysis of a microRNA signature for poor prognosis suggests a microRNA-controlled stemness pathway in paediatric acute leukaemia.

Stefan J Erkeland. Br J Haematol. 2023 Jul: PMID: 36994809

  1. Dysregulation of Small Nucleolar RNAs in B-Cell Malignancies.

Martijn W C Verbeek, Stefan J Erkeland, Vincent H J van der Velden. Biomedicines. 2022 May 24: PMID: 35740251

  1. MicroRNA-139, an Emerging Gate-Keeper in Various Types of Cancer.

Christiaan J Stavast, Iris van Zuijen, Stefan J Erkeland. Cells. 2022 Feb 22: PMID: 35269391

  1. MicroRNA-139 Expression Is Dispensable for the Generation of Influenza-Specific CD8+ T Cell Responses.

Hope JL, Zhao M, Stairiker CJ, Kiernan CH, Carey AJ, Mueller YM, van Meurs M, Brouwers-Haspels I, Otero DC, Bae EA, Faso HA, Maas A, de Looper H, Fortina PM, Rigoutsos I, Bradley LM, Erkeland SJ, Katsikis PD. J Immunol. 2022 Jan 12: PMID: 3502227745.  

  1. miR-181a is a novel player in the STAT3-mediated survival network of TCRαβ+ CD8+ T large granular lymphocyte leukemia.

Assmann JLJC, Leon LG, Stavast CJ, van den Bogaerdt SE, Schilperoord-Vermeulen J, Sandberg Y, Bellido M, Erkeland SJ, Feith DJ, Loughran TP Jr, Langerak AW. Leukemia. 2021 Dec 6. PMID: 34873301

  1. The tumor suppressor MIR139 is silenced by POLR2M to promote AML oncogenesis.

Stavast CJ, van Zuijen I, Karkoulia E, Özçelik A, van Hoven-Beijen A, Leon LG, Voerman JSA, Janssen GMC, van Veelen PA, Burocziova M, Brouwer RWW, van IJcken WFJ, Maas A, Bindels EM, van der Velden VHJ, Schliehe C, Katsikis PD, Alberich-Jorda M, Erkeland SJ. Leukemia. 2021 Nov 5. PMID: 34741119

  1. Extracellular Vesicles Derived From Adult and Fetal Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Differentially Promote ex vivo Expansion of Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cells.

Ghebes CA, Morhayim J, Kleijer M, Koroglu M, Erkeland SJ, Hoogenboezem R, Bindels E, van Alphen FPJ, van den Biggelaar M, Nolte MA, van der Eerden BCJ, Braakman E, Voermans C, van de Peppel J. Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2021 Feb 25. PMID: 33718342  

  1. The miR-200c/141-ZEB2-TGFβ axis is aberrant in human T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia.

Erkeland SJ, Stavast CJ, Schilperoord-Vermeulen J, Dal Collo G, Van de Werken HJG, Leon LG, Van Hoven-Beijen A, Van Zuijen I, Mueller YM, Bindels EM, De Ridder D, Kappers-Klunne MC, Van Lom K, Van der Velden VHJ, Langerak AW. Haematologica. 2022 Jan 1. PMID: 33596640